- Blackguard
- Blackguard Black"guard (bl[a^]g"g[aum]rd), n. [Black + guard.]
1. The scullions and lower menials of a court, or of a
nobleman's household, who, in a removal from one residence
to another, had charge of the kitchen utensils, and being
smutted by them, were jocularly called the ``black
guard''; also, the servants and hangers-on of an army.
[Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
A lousy slave, that . . . rode with the black guard in the duke's carriage, 'mongst spits and dripping pans. --Webster (1612). [1913 Webster]
2. The criminals and vagrants or vagabonds of a town or community, collectively. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
3. A person of stained or low character, esp. one who uses scurrilous language, or treats others with foul abuse; a scoundrel; a rough. [1913 Webster]
A man whose manners and sentiments are decidedly below those of his class deserves to be called a blackguard. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
4. A vagrant; a bootblack; a gamin. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
